12.20.22 Recap: Heaven #2

Northern Virginia Catholic Bible Study & Apologetics House rules/notes… 1. Meetup is www.meetup.com/catholicbiblestudy Zoom Meeting Logon info is the same every week: Zoom ID: 861 1782 2081 Password: 406952 2. Questions encouraged. If you have questions about anything, you can ask in the chat, email the Meetup group, or me directly at ron@hallagan.net. 3. Unedited recaps of meetings are posted via Meetup after our meeting. The final edited recap is posted within a week by Taylor on our Catholic Catacombs Light website at www.catholiccatacombs.wixsite.com/website/recaps. Taylor will notify everyone on Meetup with the link. 4. Respectfulness. We will be discussing differences between religions and between Christian denominations, and agree to be respectful at all times. Specifically, Protestants are our friends and brothers in Christ; in fact, I personally owe part of my return to the faith to them! 5. No politics. It would be easy for us to self-destruct, but that’s not our goal. Our goal is to learn/understand/apply the Bible and our Catholic faith. 6. Prison fellowship – opportunities to volunteer one Saturday per month for 2 hours (12-2 or 2-4) serving Catholic prisoners at the Fairfax County Jail. Ask Ron (ron@hallagan.net) or Gina (gmasterson99@gmail.com) for details. Why do this? "I was in prison, and you visited me." – Matt 25:36 7. Catholic Prayer & Fellowship. Are you interested in praying with other Catholics during the week? Fellow member Jason Goldberg has started just this at “Catholic Prayer, Fellowship, and Spirituality Meetup.” Sign up at: https://www.meetup.com/online-catholic-prayer-fellowship-and-spirituality/ 8. I highly recommend seeing “The Chosen” TV series. We seek a relationship with Jesus Christ, which is not easy at first. It helps when we can relate to a person that we have seen and heard. They have captured the real Jesus as close as any film I’ve ever seen. https://thechosen.link/1Y1R7. 9. RSVP Reminder: Please RSVP whether you are attending the meeting or just reading the Recap notes afterwards. The more RSVPs, the more Meetup will give us exposure, which will draw more people to us, which is our way of evangelizing! Please RSVP when you get the Meetup invite weekly. Our Bible Study Format: 5 min prayers, 10-15 min Catholic topic, 40-45 min on the main topic from weekly List below: Week 1: Dec 6 - Gospel Week: Immaculate Conception readings: Genesis 3:9-20 and Luke 1:26-38 Week 2: Dec 13 – Bible Week (Gen àRev): We are in EXODUS, the 2nd book of Moses, meeting #4. Week 3: Dec 20 – Survey Topics Voted on by Members: We are currently beginning Heaven.

Ö 1) Jesus’ Greatest Parables 2) Hell, Purgatory, Heaven 3) Christian Comparisons 4) Great Women in the Bible 5) World Religions 6) Book of Revelation 7) Major Heresies and Church Councils

Week 4/: Dec 27 – Member Questions Night 1. How do we reconcile the idea of Christian suffering and “dying to oneself” with Jesus’ statement, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me; and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." – Mat 11:28-30 2. The History of the Mass going back to Cain & Abel, and the sublime meaning of the Eucharist in the present. 3. Love and Unity are two of the Holy Spirit’s Trinitarian descriptions. How are these different? How do they affect us? 4. The knowledge of God is “participatory.” Is that why nonbelievers have difficulty? 5. Are Charity and Love synonymous? How are they different? What are the 4 highest forms of Charity? 6. Do we have suffering for a reason? How do we offer up our sufferings? When should we embrace the cross vs wait for a miracle? 7. Can you review origin, purpose, and meaning of the various components of the Creed? Next Holy Days of Obligation Advent – Sun Nov 27 to Sat Dec 24 Christmas – Dec 25 Epiphany of the Lord – Jan 8 Opening Prayer Lord God in Heaven, thank you for loving us into existence… For giving us another chance when we chose ourselves and this world over You. Thank you for coming here Yourself to walk in our shoes and show us the way... And for taking the cross and to pay off our sins. Finally, thank you for sending us the Holy Spirit To help us and guide us the rest of the way. And as you taught us to pray: Our Father Who art in Heaven, Hallowed be Thy Name. Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily Bread; And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us all. Amen. Advent reflection #1: John the Baptizer vs Samson

Judges 13:1-6 The Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, who therefore delivered them into the power of the Philistines for forty years. There was a certain man from Zorah, of the clan of the Danites, whose name was Manoah. His wife was barren and had borne no children. An angel of the LORD appeared to the woman and said to her: “Though you are barren and have had no children, you will conceive and bear a son. Now, then, be careful to drink no wine or beer and to eat nothing unclean, for you will conceive and bear a son. No razor shall touch his head, for the boy is to be a Nazirite for God from the womb. It is he who will begin to save Israel from the power of the Philistines.” The woman went and told her husband. So begins the story of the mighty warrior, Samson, a man chosen by God to deliver the Israelites from their enemies, the Philistines. Samson was raised to be a holy man, and his extraordinary strength and the power of the Holy Spirit enabled him to defeat the Philistines and rescue the Israelites. He becomes a “Judge” in Israel who ruled wisely, but he was undone by his human desires (Delilah). At the end of his life, blinded by the Philistines and tied to two columns of their temple, he called upon the Lord and brought down the walls of the temple, killing scores of his enemies. Samson renewed his faith in God, and the power of the Lord returned to him. Q: How many Judges were there in the Book of Judges and how long did the period of Judges last? There were 12 judges officially, 14 if you count Joshua and Samuel. It was the period between Exodus and Saul, first king if Israel. John the Baptist has a similar story to Samson. He was not to cut his hair or drink wine, and he would be filled with the Holy Spirit. Let’s compare and contrast John and Samson. Similarities: Both mothers were elderly and barren Both visited by an angel and they conceived. Both were dedicated to God and were Nazarites. Both died in service to God. Differences: As with many OT lessons and stories, Samson’s power is shown exteriorly, and he is primarily a political savior. Like Jesus’ lessons in the NT, John’s power emphasizes the inner person (which controls exterior behavior) and repentance. His goal is saving souls eternally. Samson loses his strength and falls. He regains it when he returns to God. John remains strong to the end (commitment to God). Q: What did Jesus mean by saying that John was the greatest of anyone born of woman, yet the least in the kingdom of Heaven is greater than he? (Mt 11:11) Any human making it to Heaven is far better off than all the people who ever lived up to the Resurrection. As for those between Adam and the Resurrection, John the Baptist was the greatest. Q: What is the difference between a Nazarite and a Nazorean? Nazirite – an Israelite consecrated to the service of God, under vows to abstain from alcohol, let the hair grow, and avoid defilement with corpses. The Hebrew word nazir means “consecrated” or “separated.” Nazarene – a resident or native of Nazareth.

Advent reflection #2: the origins of December 25 as the date for Christmas

It’s that time of year again when many Christians encounter claims that pagan gods predating Jesus Christ were born on December 25. In popular films, Internet videos, and other media you can find long lists of gods who were supposedly born on the same day.

This idea is not limited to unbelievers. Many Christians claim that the date of Christmas was intended to provide an alternative to pagan celebrations. Some Fundamentalist denominations refuse to celebrate Christmas for this reason. Even if this “alternative theory" was true, there is nothing improper about replacing a pagan holiday with a Christian holy day as the Empire became more and more Christian over the first five centuries. In fact, it would be helpful to do this from a cultural/transitional standpoint, to wean people off their pagan traditions. Nevertheless, careful investigation shows that this was not the case. For what it’s worth, the three closest pagan rivals to claiming Dec 25 as birthdays are Saturnalia, Sol Invictus, and Mithras. Saturnalia was celebrated Dec 17-23, so it was never on Dec 25th, anyway. As for Sol Invictus and Mithras, a claim was made in a document called “Chronography of 354” that the Church chose December 25th in the 4th century to replace one of these two pagan celebrations. However, writings discovered since then show that Christians recognized Dec 25th about 150 years prior to that, and no references are made anywhere about pagan holidays. But, like I said, even if Christian holy days had replaced pagan holidays as the Roman Empire became Christian over the centuries, so what? Nevertheless, here is some useful information you might like to know: 1) Christmas was not an event in the Apostolic Age. Birthdays were not celebrated so much by Jews or Christians 2000 years ago because that was considered more of a pagan practice. The important date in Christianity isn’t Christmas, it’s Easter, since freeing man from his sins and opening up the gates of Heaven was the purpose of God coming here. That happened on Easter. Interest in Jesus’ birthday didn’t arise until over a hundred years after the Resurrection, and then several different dates were being used. 2) Pagan idolatry was anathema to Christians. There are early Christian sources that explain why they think Jesus was born on Dec 25, and none of them have anything to do with paganism. One example can be found in the writings of St. Hippolytus of Rome in 204 AD in his Commentary on the Book of Daniel. “For the first advent of our lord in the flesh, when he was born in Bethlehem, was Wednesday, December 25th, in the forty-second year of Augustus, but from Adam, five thousand and five hundred years.” – St. Hippolytus, Commentary on Daniel, AD 204 The reference to Adam is instructional for us. In another of Hyppolytus’ writings (the “Chronicon”), he explains that Jesus was born nine months after the Creation; according to his calculations, the world was created on the vernal equinox, March 25 – also the date of Jesus’ Resurrection – and nine months later would be Dec 25. The point is that writings and calculations like this exist before Christianity was proclaimed legal in the Roman Empire in 313AD (before this, Rome was killing Christians for sport), and all the calculating and estimating had nothing to do with pagan holidays, which the Christians considered idolatry in the first place. 3) Another ancient calculation: Similar to #2, the Jews in Biblical times were known to attribute “years of perfection” to their greatest prophets. This did not mean they were perfect – it refers to their years, meaning they were born and died on the same date – their years were “complete.” Some applied this to their calculations to Jesus’ birthday. Jesus died during the Passover – the date is believed to be March 25. Some held that this date was his birthday, while others held this was the date of his conception (“The Annunciation”), which means he would have been born 9 months later on December 25th. Note the lack of pagan references, which would have been idiotic anyway. Christianity and pagan religions repelled each other like opposite poles of a magnet. 4) The date of Christ’s birthday as Dec 25 is not Catholic dogma. (Read that again.) In other words, if a Catholic doesn’t want to believe that Jesus was born on Dec 25, that’s okay, you aren’t sinning. It’s not dogma. It’s simply the best date the Church has. At the end of the day, all that matters is the celebration of Jesus’ arrival into this world. The date isn’t conspiratorial except to those who want to make something out of nothing. The date isn’t even essential – it is incidental.

Bigfoot, sighted here in 1962, was the latest to claim December 25 was stolen from him! Topic Night: Heaven 2

Heavenly “places”

Last month in "Intro to Heaven" we discussed how TIME is different in heaven. Time in our limited, finite lifetime is always tied to change. We don’t consciously think of time and change as being connected, but it is, particularly in a way that we call “entropy,” which is defined as “all things move towards disorder over time” – everything is aging, decaying, or dying; resources are diminishing; and time itself is always “running out" as we seek a better life or, at least, a better tomorrow. This is one of our laws of nature, also called the Second Law of Thermodynamics.

Now, when we say that God and Heaven are “outside of time,” this is true in a sense. However, what we really mean to say is that God and Heaven are outside of time as we know it. Human understanding of time – including how we measure it – is tied to entropy.

In Heaven, there is no entropy – no dying, no decaying, no diminishing recourses, no running out of time.

Some people think “outside of time” must mean that there is no real activity – because time stops. No! If there was a cessation of events, then nothing would ever take place. Events and activities of all kinds will still occur in Heaven but without the disorderly force of entropy.

Also, similar to the description of Eden prior to the Fall of Man, our wills will have greater control both over our own bodies and over nature. We saw this with Christ's glorified body after he returned to the Apostles after his Resurrection.

Q: What will our bodies be like?

They will be glorified bodies. This means a combination of spiritual and physical. In this life, our physical nature has greater dominance over us than our spiritual nature. This is why our minds may know the right thing to do, but our physical temptations overpower our wills. On the contrary, in Heaven our spiritual nature will enjoy perfect authority over our physical nature.

We will be given our most perfect, ideal bodies – whatever God determines that to be.

What about the obese, or the mentally/physically handicapped? These are not perfected selves so they will not be so in Heaven.

Q: Does Heaven have some kind of “spiritual place”?

God created all things “good.” He said so Himself all throughout Genesis 1. He did not create things “good” to throw them away. He did not create the entire universe so He could throw it into the garbage can. God is not wasteful. He is perfectly efficient. He is the perfect conservationist.

Even reading about the Garden of Eden as an allegory, Paradise was still very much described as a physical place. The difference between that place and our place is … entropy.

“Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree which I commanded you not to, cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it. It will produce thorns and thistles for you. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground from which you were taken…” (Gen 3:19)

What we have here is a description of entropy, and that prior to the fall, man worked but not by the sweat of his brow and not with thorns, which is another way of saying work pleasant, productive, and not fighting him at every turn.

Jesus’ glorified body.

Jesus came back in his glorified “human” body to show us. The Apostles in the upper room thought he might be a ghost (a purely spiritual being) because he walked through the locked doors, but then Jesus immediately told them to give him some fish to eat. Why would he do that? To show us that he had his physical body back!

God didn’t have to create us with physical bodies, but He did. God didn’t have to be incarnated into a human being with a body, but he did. He certainly didn’t have to come walk in our shoes, get tortured in a body, or lay down his life for us , but He did. Jesus didn’t have to return in his body after his resurrection, but he did. And finally, Jesus didn’t have to take his human body back with him to the Trinity, but he did. God’s human creation is uniquely physical and spiritual – and intentional.

Even the angels don’t have this.

Scripture is replete with physical references to a new age, a new Jerusalem, a new world – a “post fallen” world. If there wasn’t a physical setting associated with these things, what would be the point of getting our bodies back? Yet, getting our bodies back is one thing all Jews and Christians of every denomination agree upon!

There is a place, but it is not the same as here. As Jesus said, “I make all things new.”

“And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” And he said upon the throne and said, “Behold, I make all things new.” – Rev 21:4-5

Q: Will there be plants and animals?

We said earlier that God doesn’t create things for nothing. He created them all “good.” The incredible and beautiful flora and fauna that exists today in creation far exceeds our imagination, and we are still making discoveries.

One of our spiritual gifts is the ability to apprehend “beauty” in all forms. Why would God give us this and then change everything to something completely foreign? What would be the point? What we will experience is much greater beauty, because our fallen eyes will not be clouded. Comparatively, everything we see today is through smudged, dirty glasses. Also, consider the additional colors on the color spectrum we will likely be able to see!

Q: Will our pets make it to heaven?

There have been theological debates on this but certainly if flora and fauna are part of the New Age, so will our pets. The theological argument against it is because God didn’t give them an immortal soul like humans. So if you are trying to fit animals into the human salvation equation, then no, they wouldn’t make it. But they don’t need to fit into the human formula for salvation. All other living things God has in heaven won’t be part of the human formula, either, because they are not human. They will be included because they were part of His creation. He created them all “good” (Gen 1), and so they will likely be part of our happiness.

Q: When does all this happen?

As we discussed, we need our heavenly bodies to experience heavenly places, but we don’t get our bodies back until after Judgment Day.

Q: What happens in between our dying and Judgement Day?

For those who haven’t sought forgiveness for all their sins, they need to take a detour to Purgatory and get those taken care of.

For those who died ready for Heaven… let’s discuss!

In Between Death and Judgment Day

Q: What is the first thing we know about this state of being?

We don’t have our bodies! We will have our spiritual souls – which is most of who we are – but not our physical being.

Q: How long will this be for?

Until Judgment Day. Maybe that will be immediately, maybe that will be a short time, maybe a long time.

However long it is, time will not feel the same there as it does here. As Peter said, “a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years is like a day.” – 2 Peter 3:8-9

Q: Can we “experience” things without our bodies?

Who can think of an “out of body” experience we have in this lifetime?

Dreaming. We move all over the place – long distances are not a problem, right? The experiences are sometimes so real we think they really happened, right? They can be downright scary, but they can also be so wonderful that when the alarm goes off, we are disappointed that we have to leave the dream, am I right? Last question – is it really us in the dream? Of course it is.

So, we already know what an out-of-body experience is. Perhaps we are given dreams to prepare us.

Q: What experiences can we have without our bodies? Will we meet our passed relatives and friends?

Next time!

Closing Prayer

Heaven Father, help us tonight and tomorrow to be patient,

Not to envy, or boast, or be proud,

Never to dishonor others, nor to be self-seeking

Nor easily angered, and to keep no record of wrongs.

Help us to rejoice in the truth, to always protect, trust, hope,

and to never ever give up, but always persevere.

Hail Mary, full of grace the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

Next class…

The New Age: With so much focus on Judgement Day, we run the risk of spending too much time on this and not enough on what comes after Judgment Day. Since Judgement Day should be completed in one heavenly day, should we also not consider how we will spend the eternity that comes after?

Scripture tells us that the Second Coming will usher in a New Age – the New Jerusalem, a New World, Paradise, Heaven – where our eternal beings and doings will be like nothing we’ve ever known before.

What is the Beatific vision – differences in each person’s capacity to receive

What does the Church say?

• God has implanted in the heart of humans a love of virtue and a love of happiness; consequently, God, because of His wisdom, must by rewarding virtue establish perfect harmony between these two tendencies. But such a harmony is not established in this life; therefore it will be brought about in the next.

• Every man has an innate desire for perfect beatitude. Experience proves this. The sight of the imperfect goods of earth naturally leads us to form the conception of a happiness so perfect as to satisfy all the desires of our heart. But we cannot conceive such a state without desiring it. Therefore we are destined for a happiness that is perfect and, for that very reason, eternal; and it will be ours, unless we forfeit it by sin. A natural tendency without an object is incompatible both with nature and with the Creator’s goodness. The arguments thus far advanced prove the existence of heaven as a state of perfect happiness.

• We are born for higher things. We are created for love and friendship, for indissoluble union with our friends. At the grave of those we love our heart longs for a future reunion. This cry of nature is no delusion. A joyful and everlasting reunion awaits the just man beyond the grave.

· Heaven presupposes a condition of perfect happiness, in which every wish of the heart finds complete satisfaction.

· In general, theologians hold that there should be a special and glorious abode in which the blessed have their home and where they usually abide, even though they are free to go about in this world. For the surroundings in the midst of which the blessed have their dwelling must be in accordance with their beatific state; and the internal union of charity which joins them in affection must find its outward expression in community of habitation. At the end of the world, the earth together with the celestial bodies will be gloriously transformed into a part of the dwelling-place of the blessed (Revelation 21).

- New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia

Beatific Vision

When the Church talks about Heaven and seeing God, they often use the term Beatific Vision.

Q: What is does beatitude/beatific mean?

Blessed; happy; perfect happiness; bliss

Q: What is the Beatific Vision?

The Beatific Vision is the adventure of meeting God which angels and humans experience in Heaven.

The primary object of the Beatific Vision is our indirect, face to face, gaze upon God himself, with no intermediary. We say “indirect” because no created being can fully comprehend omnipotence and omnipresence of God. God reveals to us all that we are able to receive.

The secondary object of the beatific vision comprises everything we may have a reasonable interest in knowing. The first of these include all the mysteries which the soul believed while on earth; the second is being able to rejoice in the company of those who had been separated from us at death.

Joy. We tend to see our relationship with God as a Parent-child relationship, and there is some truth to that because we are trying to learn how to use our spiritual gifts and love like He does. Sometimes, it’s “tough love” because that’s what we need. But in Heaven we are no longer in this position. We will have graduated into spiritual adults, and the relationship God will elevate accordingly. God knows joy more than anyone and wants us to know that joy, too. Good times will roll. See Song of Songs:

Reading Song of Songs is like reading a romance novel at first – it’s a series of love poems. You won’t be the first to ask why it is even in the Bible. One of the answers scholars have suggested is that the romantic love between the man and woman in this book is symbolic of the love between God and his people. Rather than thinking of God as our Father whose guiding and forgiving love is like that of a parent for a child, it uses romantic love as an analogy for God’s love to open up new insights. Anyone who has been in love will tell you how elated and excited they feel. All they want is to be with their beloved, to savor their beauty, and to do special things for them. God’s love for you is like this, but even greater. It’s deeper, more encompassing, and stronger and purer than any romantic love you will ever experience. And in just a few days, we will celebrate one of the most dramatic expressions of that love: the Son of God becoming a man so that he could win back our love. When we think of Jesus’time among us, we tend to focus on his sufferings. He dealt with poverty, rejection, ridicule, and a painful death. But another side of this story emerges when you imagine Jesus as the lover in today’s first reading: a young man springing across mountains and hills in his eagerness to be with you. He sees your sins and your struggles, but he also sees the beauty of God’s image in you and your potential for holiness. His love for you isn’t muted. It bursts forth, like the sun rising over a distant mountain. It’s always flowing, like a rushing river. And it’s meant for you . As Christmas approaches, remember that Jesus is running eagerly toward you, his heart full of love. He will never stop pursuing you.

We are the judges…The Church teaches that judgment day is a judgment we write for ourselves in this life. Whatever we do here, however we choose to define our lives here, will be manifested in the next life. Jesus could not have made it any clearer that the measuring stick we have to work with does not count worldly possessions, achievements, or recognition, but rather love, service to others, and forgiveness – both the seeking of it and the giving of it – no different that God did with us.

Heaven – Old Testament

Psalm of David: “Consider me and respond, O Lord. Give light to my eyes, lest I sleep in death…” – Psalm 13:3

“He will swallow up death forever. The Lord God will wipe away the tears from every face and remove the disgrace of His people from the whole earth.” – Isaiah 25:8

“Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake – some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever.” – Daniel 2:2-3

“In the way of righteousness there is life; along that path is immortality, but another path leads to death.” –Proverbs 12:28

“But as for me, God will redeem me from the realm of the dead; he will surely take me to himself.” – Psalm 49:15

Enoch walked with God. Then he was no more because God took him away. Gen 5:24

Therefore, my heart is glad, and my tongue rejoices… because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor let your holy one see decay You show me the path of love. In Your presence, there is fullness of joy, in your right hand are pleasures forevermore. Psalm 16:9-11

It happened that seven brothers with their mother were arrested and tortured with whips and scourges by the king, to force them to eat pork in violation of God’s law. One of the brothers… at the point of death he said: “You accursed fiend, you are depriving us of this present life, but the King of the world will raise us up to live again forever. It is for his laws that we are dying.” After him the third brother put out his tongue at once when told to do so and bravely held out his hands, as he spoke these noble words: “It was from Heaven that I received these; for the sake of his laws, I disdain them; from him I hope to receive them again.” Even the king and his attendants marveled at the young man’s courage, because he regarded his sufferings as nothing. After he had died, they tortured and maltreated the fourth brother in the same way. When he was near death, he said, “It is my choice to die at the hands of men with the hope God gives of being raised up by him; but for you, there will be no resurrection to life.” – Maccabees 7:1-2, 9-14

Heaven – New Testament

The New Testament refers to paradise and heaven as the place where the spirits of the godly exist after physical death. Throughout Jesus’ ministry He referred to heaven.

The word heaven appears 275 times in the New Testament and 145 times in the gospels alone.

Jesus told us that God the Father resides in heaven (Matthew 6:9). Mark 13:32 says that the angels are in heaven.

But of that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. Mark 13:32 (NASB)

Hebrews 12:23 and 2 Peter 3:13 indicate that the saints will go to heaven.

. . . to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, Hebrews 12:23 (NASB)

But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.. 2 Peter 3:13 (NASB)

“Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life. – John 5:24

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” – John 3:16

Jesus said to her (Martha), “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die. – John 11:25

For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works. - Matthew 16:27

”Jesus replied, “The sons of this age are given in marriage, but those who are worthy of taking part in the age come will neither marry nor be given in marriage. They can no longer die, for they are like the angels; and are children of God, being children of the resurrection. – Luke 20: 34-36

“But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there who… transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.” – Philippians 3:20-21

“My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?” – John 14:2

“And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me so that you also may be where I am.” – John 14:3

How do I get to Heaven?

According to scripture, the way is that we repent of our sins. That is, we turn away from our sins, stop doing evil, turn away from those things, and trust and believe in Christ.

Jesus gives this message at the beginning of his ministry. Repent and believe the gospel. That’s the same message for us today. Turn away from evil, trust in Christ, trust in what he has done for us. Because ultimately, there’s nothing that we can do to merit that initial reception, if you will, into heaven. There’s nothing we can do to merit that.

So again, it is based on repentance, turning away from sin, and turning to Christ, trusting in him and resting in him. I think when we do that, we’re going in the right direction.

Conclusion

Where does it begin?

There is a common notion among many Christians that the kingdom of God is only to be experienced after death. Yes, if we abide in God and seek to do his will, then there is a heaven – an eternal life in a new creation – that awaits us upon our passing from this life and the resurrection that follows.

But so much of what Jesus said to his disciples and the people of his day exhorted them to do something with this life in order to advance the creation that God had inaugurated, and Jesus had redeemed.

Jesus gave us a model prayer that has as its first petition a request for the kingdom of God to come on this earth here and now, as it is in heaven – “your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” (Mt. 6:10)

Many of Jesus’ parables which are about this life describe what the kingdom of God is like:

· The kingdom of God is like a mustard seed that grows from the smallest seed or effort into a worldwide movement. (Mt. 13:31)

· The Kingdom God is like the leaven of yeast, a small number of Christians impacting the larger dough of the world. (Mt. 13:33)

· The kingdom of God is like a treasure hidden in a field, leading us to give up everything to acquire the field. (Mt. 13:44)

“The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘there it is,’ because the kingdom of God is within you.” (Luke 17:20-21)

These words of Jesus were in response to a question from the Pharisees of when the kingdom of God would come.

Jesus says, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” (John 14:23) Through the Father and Jesus living in us, we have the opportunity to experience the fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self-control), and share that fruit with others. (Galatians 5:22-23)

Taylor keeping positive in spite of having only one eye!